Robert Addy in his Forest City Baseball uniform in the 1870s. The Forest City club played at the Agricultural Society Fairgrounds in Rockford Illinois near Chicago. Addy was one of the greatest pre-league and early league players. Al Spalding credits him with the being the ballplayer that first invented the first base slide.

In early April of 1884, the Union Association St. Paul Base Ball Club began practicing for the upcoming Northwestern League season on grounds across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Paul (an area known as the city’s West Side even though it was actually south of downtown). As far as a location for their ball…